I wasn’t working – it must have been my identical twin!

AN “unemployed” benefit cheat caught carrying a ladder and bucket for his window cleaning round claimed it was therapy for his bad back.

Lord Freud said investigators could see the funny side but were serious about catching benefit cheat []

His silly excuse tops a list of ridiculous fabrications used by fraudsters as they were caught red handed.

Investigators are lifting the lid on a litany of hopeless claims today after Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud warned the net is closing on Britain’s benefits cheats.

A common excuse tried by con artists is the old “not me guv” defence.

One man who was caught working while claiming disability benefit insisted investigators had seen his “identical twin”. Another man said his wallet had been stolen and someone else was using his identity.

Couples are also keen to cover for each other if one of them is claiming housing benefit at an address different to the one they live in. One woman insisted her boyfriend was not living with her but came in every morning to “fill up his flask with tea”.

We list benefit cheats’ ridiculous excuses

A husband claimed he had no idea his wife was working and claiming unemployment benefit, even though she left twice a day dressed in a fluorescent jacket carrying a large Stop Children sign. If all else fails, fraudsters’ last line of defence is to claim stupidity. One cheat insisted he did not realise he was still on benefits, while another said he had not declared his savings on a benefits form because “they were given to me”.

One woman said that although her partner slept in her bed every night she did not consider that to be living there.

Some cheats will go to great lengths to steal thousands from the taxpayer.

Vitislav Podola, of Leeds, claimed nearly £17,500 to care for his sick father, who hadn’t seen him for years, while Trevor Osgood, from Somerset, claimed £55,000 in disability benefits while working on a dairy farm.

Lord Freud said that while investigators could see the funny side, they were deadly serious about catching benefit cheats who cost the taxpayer £1.6billion every year.

Sweeping reforms being introduced by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will replace the current complex system with a single Universal Credit.

Lord Freud said: “Benefit fraud is no joke and yet our investigators are routinely dealing with ridiculous excuses for stealing money from the taxpayer.

“Universal Credit will simplify and automate the benefits system. This will make it much easier to catch people who make false claims.”